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Ghost People
The Ghost People, also known as guaǐrén, ''knockers, ''pretatmanusa, or geistvaalk by various cultures of khtrl, are a long-lost kin group to the rén. During the Sealing event that isolated the People from the rest of the world, the Ghost People were caught in the path of the event itself and scattered dimensionally. Currently, only six lingering houses remain as those were the houses able to stabilize themselves. prior to discorporation. Ghost People collectively self-identify as tooskhümüüs, or "dust people." Overall Physiology The Ghost People typically stand just over seven feet tall. Both genders are very lanky, and the nomadic lifestyle and culture of need tends to impart a habit of fitness on the individual. Ghost People have elongated, stiff ears and unusually smooth features. Rather than body hair, Ghost People have a microscopic toothlike structure that grows in their skin. Sexual dimorphism is present in the Ghost People, though not significantly in terms of scale or build. The musculature of the Ghost Person face has a natural downward curvature to the lips, though not as prominent as that of the People. Between that and their unusually smooth features, they frequently seem quite serene. Time in their suits and in spaces without light has driven them toward a significant tendency of albinism; while individual members of the species occasionally possess a hint of blond, red, or silver in their hair, predominantly their hair is white. A curious quality to the Ghost Person pupillary structure lends the impression that their eyes are like green mirrors constantly. Species Mechanics *All People are capable of seeing ultraviolet light and hearing ultra high frequencies. *The animus of a Ghost Person is effectively a separate monster that is permanently affixed to them. This is a phenomenon that can be witnessed. Effectively this grants Ghost People an inherent ghost touch ''quality that extends to their equipment or weapons to a very limited degree. Houses Each House maintains a permanent population of some 50-60 individuals in its Holdfast. The remaining majority is out Questing for at minimum half the year. Most draw lots to determine who will keep the Holdfast for the year; to hold the fort is both a great honour and the most trying ordeal most Ghost People will face. House Ovliin, ''Spring Came Not For Us The Ovliin ghost people are exceptionally cold to the touch, greyish-blue of skin and ice-like of eye. Frost will gather upon the surface of their skin should they hold too still, and crack and flake away if they begin to move. They hold particularly still when idle, and eat and drink very little. They tend to dress in a more bulky fashion than other ghost people, if for no other reason than to keep the heat away. House Ovliin found itself floating in a vast, frigid void, with only distantly-floating castles and broken ships in sight. Over time, they lashed much of these structures together, creating a flotilla city of frozen stone and wood. This brought the attention of creatures living in the void, against which they must remain constantly vigilant. The Ovliin pride themselves on their persistence and durability. *Resistance to cold, vulnerability to fire. *The Ovliin are virtually invisible to any heat-based form of detection. They are also odourless. *The Ovliin do posess a thermographic low-light vision. They may as a bonus action activate or deactivate this ability - it is not always on. *The Ovliin can fill a number of squares equal to their proficiency bonus with a dense cold mist by "dusting" themselves. This heavily obscures any within those squares for one minute. Each Ovliin ghost person begins play able to maintain one cold 'charge' at a time. With experience and practice, they can accumulate and cache more cold - one charge per every five levels. As long as an Ovliin ghost person maintains at least one charge of smoke they frost over with a rime of hoarfrost, and mist frequently rolls from the mouth while speaking. *The Ovliin may vent a cold 'charge' to briefly grant a melee or thrown weapon they wield additional frost damage. *The Ovliin see clearly through fog and mist, including that produced by their own mist quality. *The Ovliin can hold their breath for a very, very long time. House Mogoi, Through The Snake We Passed The Mogoi ghost people tend to have a very slightly yellow or greenish cast to their features, and possess a curious, slitted double-pupil. Some have streaks of black in their hair. As a result of their mutation, their blood and saliva are highly caustic and poisonous to most, and their skin can take on the colours of its surroundings. For the ghost people, the Mogoi have an unusual tendency to dress in more revealing clothing to take advantage of this colour-shifting ability - to some other houses, they are seen as indecent. House Mogoi found itself stranded within the innards of a massive poisonous creature. Eventually, they were able to fight their way through its parasites and cut their way through its flesh to find themselves adrift in an acidic sea with no apparent end, perforated with minute island spires of iron or copper. Over the centuries the Mogoi have built an insulating barrier around their Holdfast of denser metals and the creature's bones and scales, building it out with bricks of dessicated meat and bone and tiles of copper. The Mogoi pride themselves on their strong stomachs and stronger wills. *Resistance to poison and acid, vulnerability to lightning. *The Mogoi damage any creature biting into them enough to cause significant damage. Most other forms of attack - weapon attacks or claws - only produce enough of their acidic blood to create a theatrical sizzle. *Advantage on all rolls related to climbing or clinging to a surface. *''Camouflage: The Mogoi may enter a state of ''invisibility as long as they are able to remain mostly still. Moving does not break this, but grants everyone around them a Wisdom (Perception) opportunity to spot the weird rippling humanoid shape of air. Attacking ends the effect. There are conditions to the use of this ability. *Mogoi may, by licking their weapons, coat them in acid. This acid is expended upon the first strike made with the weapon. It also typically does terrible things to metal weapons. Each Mogoi ghost person begins play able to maintain one acid 'charge' at a time. With experience and practice, they can accumulate and cache more acid - one charge per every five levels. As long as a Mogoi ghost person maintains at least one charge of acid they are capable of using their camouflage power - and if all charges are expended, they must rest briefly before it can be used. *Mogoi may, by using all of their acid charges, spray acid in a short cone before them. *The Mogoi have advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks relating to scent and can generally locate invisible creatures by odour. House Khünd, We Could Not Be Contained The Khund ghost people are slightly amber- or golden-tinged compared to their fellows, and usually have a vaguely iridescent quality to the skin around their eyes, which are frequently green or gold. The skin of the Khund is extraordinarily smooth and slightly firm, with a waxy or soapy textural quality. Frequently they bear scores of small crisscrossed nicks and cuts from former injuries, sometimes intricate patterns of carvings are passed about in questing groups. House Khund passed through several planes in the Sundering. Its first dimension was one of solid rock, and through a tightly concerted effort the Khund ghost people were able to fling it, and themselves, elsewhere. After passing through a vast environ of metal sand and whirling through a porous stone structure howling with deafening winds, it landed where it is now - in a caldera in a savage realm of massive beasts and other creatures. The Khund pride themselves on the current state of their Holdfast. *The Khund can adapt their mass in unusual ways. With a simple Dexterity check, they can tread upon quicksand, mud, oil, tar, or other similar surfaces without difficulty. This can also be used to render the Khund more buoyant, sending them near-instantly to the surface of a body of water, or less buoyant, sending them stone-like to the bottom. These abilities are useable at will. *Resistance to lightning, vulnerability to cold. *The Khund mass adaptation has an additional, secondary benefit: They can alter the condition of their skin, rendering it more supple or more firm with considerable effort. Each Khund ghost person begins play able to maintain one mass 'charge' at a time. With experience and practice, they can accumulate and cache more smoke - one charge per every five levels. As long as a Khund ghost person maintains at least one charge they glisten slightly, as if dusted with an iridescent substance, and smell vaguely of flowers and honey. Tracking the Khund by scent is never difficult. *The Khund may expend a mass charge to become more dense, gaining resistance to physical damage at the expense of the vast majority of their movement speed and jumping ability. *The Khund may expend a mass charge to become less dense, gaining a significant amount of movement speed and jumping height and distance at the expense of receiving more damage whenever physical damage is taken. *The Khund may end all mass-affecting effects as a free action. *The Khund are capable at moving their speed while prone. They may stand or fall prone as a bonus action on their turn, or as their reaction outside of it. House Shönö, Know No Fear The Shönö ghost people have a reputation for exceptional severity, partially due to their appearance - most Shönö are gaunt, with dark-ringed eye sockets and gleaming metal-black eyes, dark lips, and very dark hair. They are seemingly always cast in a grim darkness, virtually consuming light they encounter. Perhaps to amplify the effect of this, they are nearly always clad in dark or black clothing, and usually soot-blacken or paint metals they scavenge to be black. House Shönö may as well have always been where it is now, a land with dim but constant light, little heat, and virtually nothing on which a living creature could survive - its native inhabitants being barely-corporeal creatures of primordial darkness. There are things resembling plants and mushrooms that offer barely any sustenance, and the waters of the world are quasi-ephemeral and unsatisfying. Yet, somehow, in these conditions the Shönö have thrived. The Shönö pride themselves on their cunning and their terrifyingly effective tactics. *Immunity to fear effects. Advantage on saves versus charms and compulsions. *Light Sensitivity: As Drow. Additionally, note that all of the Shönö special qualities function only in dim light or darkness. *Darkvision. *The Shönö may conceal themselves so long as they are outside direct light. Additionally, they have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made while standing in dim light, shadows, or darkness. *The Shönö are capable of physically manipulating their inner darkness to some degree. They may draw it as a thread or shape it into small, fine tools. So long as they are proficient in a tool that can be held in one hand and outside of direct illumination, they may improvise it from darkness alone. Additionally, they may apply this darkness as a garotte. *In addition to forging tools of pure darkness, the Shönö may weaponize it. Once per round as a bonus action, the Shönö may manifest a spike of darkness that can be wielded as a weapon or thrown. If wielded in hand, treat this spike as a shortsword. If thrown, treat it as a dagger. *All objects created by the Shönö from darkness disintegrate at the end of the turn in which they leave the Shönö's hands. House Utaa, We But Fuel Our Family The Utaa are grimmer-seeming than most ghost people, having a slight ashen cast to their skin, grey-black teeth and bones, and an unusual condition in which the body constantly produces a noxious smoke. This smoke issues from their mouths and nostrils, and frequently from their fingertips and along the arm as well. They commonly wear sleeveless armour, and frequently employ makeshift bombs and their own lathed firearm technologies. The Utaa believe in an alternative strategy of stealth - an unsubtle, explosive approach to achieving whatever it is they set out to do. After all, the blind cannot describe you. The Utaa holdfast is set within a maelstrom of colliding ruins of ancient places and an electrical storm begat by dense smoke. They maintain its security largely through a webbed, ablative network of chained ruins and electrical grounds, to divert the continuous discharges from the storm. Frequently, Utaa leaving from the holdfast will venture out into the storm, such that their gating will carry the explosive rock and smoke with them in larger volumes than normal. *Resistant to fire, vulnerable to acid. *The Utaa generate and expel an explosive, smoky substance through their hands, arms, and mouths. Each Utaa ghost person begins play able to maintain one smoke 'charge' at a time. With experience and practice, they can accumulate and cache more smoke - one charge per every five levels. As long as an Utaa ghost person maintains at least one charge of smoke they produce that smoke constantly from their body, in wisps and trails, and it frequently rolls from the mouth while speaking. Tracking the Utaa by scent is never difficult. *The Utaa may expend their smoke charge to vent it 'hot', generating a great deal of light and smoky volume - all creatures capable of being blinded or deafened must make a Dexterity or Constitution save to resist both if within fifteen feet, and one or the other if within thirty. The smoke grants obscurity and lingers for one turn. *The Utaa may expend their smoke charge to vent it 'cold', generating a great deal of force and very dark smoke - to gain advantage on a Dexterity (Acrobatics), Charisma (Intimidate), or Athletics (Strength) check. *The Utaa may use their movement on their turn to rapidly recover a smoke charge, via a calcinator-like cooking process. House Zurl, Only The Guilty Survive ff *Immunity to Charms and Compulsions, advantage on rolls to resist paralysis. *Sensory sensitivity: When exposed to any sudden bright lights, loud noises, or particularly potent aromas, Zurl ghost people must make a dexterity or constitution save or be deafened, blinded, or sickened. Spells or abilities that declare they cause pain are particularly effective on the Zurl. *Sense Minds: Zurl ghost people may detect nearby intellects. Any individual failing a Wisdom save betrays its general location and whether or not it is hostile. Individuals with high mental attributes are instantly aware of this means of detection if they pass their save. Individuals with exceptional mental attributes are aware of this even if they fail. *Telepathic Link: All personal effects receive a mild bonus for each friendly individual with this quality within a short distance that has spent at least a few days with the Zurl. *Trustworthy: Once per short rest, the Zurl ghost person may coax another into a state of trust and calm, effectively casting Charm Person through psychic influence. *Beneath Notice: The Zurl can, by maintaining a psychic state of focus and not interacting blatantly with their environment, redirect the attention of others away from them. While in this state, individuals must pass a Will save to compare their Wisdom (Perception) check results with any act the Zurl has undertaken. The Zurl may mark an individual to divert notice to on any failed save.